frostbitten
by the milliner's rook
Summary: The winter they meet is unkind with snow.


It starts with a glance.

Clouds strewn over pale grey skies, the cold stings her cheeks until they are flushed pink, Karin digs her hand in her coat pockets, shivering as the wind passes through her, hair whipping her ears.

The ground cracks beneath her, the soft crunch of snow buried beneath the heels of her boots. Karin treads carefully, trying not to slip.

Her mouth warms the scarf wrapped around her neck, and she sighs deeply, chest heaving as she feels the air surrounding her heat up and fade away, dissipating back into the cold.

Karin catches sight of him then. A spectre, maybe, caught in the shimmer of condensed air and vanishing when it runs out.

Karin blinks. Again and again. She tries to find him before giving up and exhaling heavily, unhappy that the ghost disappeared after a single glimpse.

Maybe it's just her imagination.

Karin doesn't see him again for the rest of winter.

* * *

Karin forgets.

A year is a long time, and there are always other distractions and better things to spend her time worrying about. There's Ichigo, for one thing, always reticent and absent-minded, his thoughts always somewhere else. There's a distant look in his eyes, a resignation in his shoulders, and Karin _aches_ just by looking at him.

Karin misses her too.

(They don't use her name, but they know. Their house isn't the same anymore, even if Ichigo was closest to her.

"He must have loved her an awful lot," Yuzu murmurs against Karin's shoulders, her face pressed close so that their conversation is muffled.

Maybe she meant the world to him and they were in love. Maybe she was just his best friend that he never knew he needed. He doesn't talk about it.

In the end, it's not their business.

"She's gone now." Karin replies sleepily, eyes closed as she gives way to sleep, and she tries to remember those days when she sat beside him, just as worried, just as sad. "She had her reasons.")

There are ghosts to pester too, some the ones she refused to believe in once, others are newer faces. Karin doesn't ignore either these days.

She can't afford to.

There are Hollows to consider, and they won't leave her alone if she refuses to believe in them. Somehow, it just doesn't work like that. But that's how she meets Urahara and his motley crew, suspicious with his wide grin and hat-and-clogs, and offers her discounts whenever she's in the vicinity. How Jinta and Ururu know him is a mystery, and Karin never stays long enough to ask. She doesn't trust Urahara one bit, but somehow she spends her free time with them all the same. Just like the good old days when she and Jinta wanted to be called Karakura Red, but they don't tend to reminisce about that and instead taunt each other. Mostly, though, she does her shopping there.

She still plays soccer, of course. Not as much as she used to, and not at all now that it's winter, but still, she kicks the ball and plays with her friends, and if she's lucky, she forgets that she's become part of the supernatural world, and that life really was as simple as trying to get the ball into the goal. Still, those moments, the moments when she scores and grins as the ball flies into the air and hits the net, the moments when she cheers for her friends, the moments when she bellows at the other team for foul play, those are the moments when she feels so brilliantly alive.

Sometimes, in her less than stellar moods, she watches Don Kanonji's show. Yuzu loves it, and there's not much Karin can refuse Yuzu. Really, she doesn't mind as much as lets Ichi-nii believe, but that doesn't stop Karin from grumbling and rolling her eyes and facing second-hand embarrassment when she watches that silly show. She wishes she could aim her soccer ball at the stupid man with his theatricality – although that doesn't stop her from joining in whenever his catchphrase and pose appears, that's too ingrained in her behaviour – so she could knock some sense into him.

Honestly, Karin wishes she could knock some sense into Hollows too, but how much damage can a soccer ball really do? Enough, she hopes, and supposes that it does the trick for now.

So Karin forgets, busying her life with more important details, like protecting Ichigo, and less important details, like school, and never thinking twice about that lone ghost.

Not until she catches sigh of him again the following winter.

* * *

Winter creeps upon Karakura slowly. It shouldn't, seeing how winter happens every year, but it does all the same. It takes longer to feel the chill of cold air and the frost, or maybe Karin hasn't been paying attention to how quickly time passes, swearing that the leaves turned red just yesterday.

Suddenly, there's snow everywhere.

Maybe she hasn't been sleeping enough. Karin loves sleep. Admires it. Craves it. Decides that she will fall asleep as soon as she gets home. Everyone deserves to have naps.

The streets look pretty enough in winter, dusted white with a sheen of snow, Karin thinks to herself as she sees a blur out of the corner of her eye.

A ghost.

Karin fixes her gaze on him, wondering briefly if anyone else noticed him, but then, who else has her job? She sighs, taking it upon herself to approach him.

It's not so bad. At least this one is pretty cute.

Before Karin gets to call out to him, he's disappears.

Well fine. If that's how he wants to play it, then it means that it's one less hassle for Karin.

* * *

_Except._

Except, Karin slows her pace, frowning.

Except something about him doesn't make sense.

She's certain she's never seen him before.

Because honestly, a guy like that sticks out like a sore thumb, even in a town that's brimming with ghosts and Hollows. And she's not entirely certain he's a ghost either. There's something off about her gut feeling.

Karin is pretty sure she'd have noticed if he'd been here before. She's not _that_ blind.

Still.

There's something weirdly familiar about him.

* * *

Karin and the afro guy have an understanding.

It mainly goes like this: he ignores her because she's a mortal and mortals _aren't supposed to notice shinigami_ and Karin ignores him because frankly she finds him very embarrassing and would rather not spend her time with a guy with an afro as horrible as his, invisible to other people or not.

Sometimes it goes like this: he asks for help because he can't get the vending machine to work and she can, or she directs him to where the Hollows are because it's her sixth sense dammit, it's not her fault her powers are increasing and there's not a soccer ball in sight.

Other times it goes like this:

"Hey. Hey Afro-san! _Af-san!"_

"The name is Kurumadani Zennosuke! That's _shinigami-sama _to _you!"_

"Whatever." She's never going to call him that and he knows it. But that won't stop him from trying. Every. Single. Time. Her standard response is to roll her eyes at him until he lets the matter go. It takes a while, but it works.

"… what is it?" He asks with deep suspicion.

"I was wondering if you know this guy—"

"Nope. Can't help."

"I hadn't finished. He's a ghost."

"Still can't help."

"Can't or won't?"

He never responds to that.

"… not even if I want to look for him and need your help?"

"Afraid not. No."

"Great. I hope you freeze."

So, like every other day when this happens, Karin has to rely on sheer dumb luck and hope that they will meet again.

Why does she even bother?

* * *

The next time, Karin is certain that he notices her.

Or at least, he's aware that she can see him.

It's not her fault he's so conspicuous. Who does he think he is with that brooding atmosphere that makes her want to laugh, and those meaningful and profound stares that would leave other people swooning, she's sure. She's had her Mr Darcy phase, and she's over that. If she'd met him a year ago, Karin would have found him cool. Now she finds him hard to take seriously.

He stands alone on the rooftops and tries to look so mysterious, and the sight is an automatic catalyst for laughter these days. _Especially_ since she has a fairly strong feeling that this _might _be a habit of his. The first time may have happened by chance, but this is too much of a coincidence for Karin to let go.

So as first impressions go, maybe an ugly burst of laughter isn't the best.

Karin notices the exact moment it registers: eyebrows furrowing and lines around his mouth deepening into a set frown, and his eyes stop searching for something so intently. The focus is on her now, and even if she's clapped her gloved hand over her face, her shoulders are still shaking.

Never one to resist a challenge, Karin stares back at him. When the laughter subsides, her hand lowers to her sides.

Snow falls; and with his latest vanishing act, it really seems like he lost and is sulking.

The snowfall thickens, and Karin grins to herself, unsure if she likes this new predicament, but she's certainly amused by it.

He was interesting, anyway. That was for sure.

* * *

The thing is, even if Ichi-nii may have the answers, Karin doesn't want him to get hurt because she made him remember a few painful memories, or even be reminded by the fact that he cannot protect his family against spirits. She doesn't want to be that person.

So she doesn't tell him.

The way Karin sees it; he's already done his fair share of protecting and now he needs to be protected. Family protects family. So she keeps her mouth shut and tries to be the detective by herself.

And even if both pretend to be more aloof than they really are, Karin still pays attention when Ichigo withdraws into himself, and worries when he's not looking.

He used to be a _shinigami_, this is their secret. And Karin will not follow his footsteps and pick up the mantle, but she will do her best to protect the family the best way she can, forging her own path.

So Karin leaves him alone, and thinks about the ghost boy a lot, frowning when it gets frustrating, and half-watching Yuzu's favourite show.

And just like that, it comes to her.

Ghosts exist.

Hollows exist.

_Shinigami_ exist.

Why can't other supernatural beings exist?

* * *

Google is a godsend.

It _always_ has the answers.

* * *

And it _fits_ – she tests the name, the sound of the name and it's weird syllables on her lips until it sounds right, murmuring it quietly, and Yuzu helps. Karin muses about his powdery white hair and ice cold eyes and thinks, how obvious it was, how it fits so perfectly that it _has _to be true.

* * *

Yuzu makes Karin wear wellies.

Yuzu wears mittens and ear muffs and finds herself the warmest coat she can find because it's a winter wonderland outside and it's _freezing _and she knows she has just the coat that suits Christmas festive spirit _perfectly_ and makes sure that Karin is equally as wrapped up so they don't catch colds.

"I'm coming with you." Yuzu says, and who knows, maybe the more the merrier, and this kind of supernatural requires two people rather than one. "It sounds fun."

Two heads sound better than one.

"I don't know if it'll work." Karin admits, exhaling as snow sets around them and they head to the park. "But it's worth a shot."

"Do you think I'll be able to see him?" Yuzu asks, wistful.

"I hope so." If not, then Karin will tell Yuzu exactly what he looks like close up. There's not much she hides from Yuzu.

Besides, if it doesn't work, that means she can try other methods. Research a bit more. There are other ways.

"Three times the charm, right?" Yuzu checks as they arrive at the snowy playing fields, their footsteps captured by fallen snow.

"I think so." Karin nods, wondering if it really is possible to summon a winter spirit as fabled as him. She steadies herself, evenly spreading her weight on her feet, and raises her hands to her face.

"_Jack Frost! Hey, Jack Frost! Jack! Frost!"_

It makes sense that it's him. There's even that expression: Jack Frost is nipping at your nose. And her nose gets _very_ tingly whenever she sees him. Her cheeks too. Anyway. It's him. It's got to be. White hair. Ice-like eyes. A pale face. A boy. He's definitely Jack Frost.

But nothing happens.

He doesn't turn up, and so Karin and Yuzu spend the rest of the afternoon building snowmen and calling her friends over to have snowball fights.

She'll just have to get his attention some other way.

* * *

Karin becomes vigilant in her pursuit of Jack Frost in a town filled with snow, trying to see if she can spot him on the rooftops, or whenever she goes to shop, torn on what kind of Christmas presents she wants to give to her friends and family this year.

Of course, when Karin sees Jack Frost, _increasingly,_ these days, she has to take care not to run.

And he's definitely nipping at her nose. How he does it from so far away is a mystery, but it's cold, and it's him, and her nose is being nipped.

"_Hey! Jack Frost!"_

When Karin sees him, she can't help but call out his name

"_Over here!"_

She's kind of disappointed that he doesn't leave fernlike patterns on the window like the legends say, but maybe it's worth calling out his name just to see him fluster and vanish in a second because he's been caught playing mischief. Snow always falls in his wake.

He's taken to glaring at her these days without directly approaching her, and Karin feels vindictively proud of herself.

_Progress._

When other children start chanting his name in the street, when they play and toss snowballs at each other, just randomly, like it's the latest fad, and Karin knows that he's heard and is probably seething, well, that's just a _bonus._

* * *

Karin sneezes in the middle of a winter wonderland, and suddenly Jack Frost is there in front of her.

She grins a crooked smile.

"Hey Jack."

He gives her his best scowl. It's not as scary as he wants to believe it is.

"I'm not _Jack Frost._" He grumbles, looking as frostbitten as she feels. "Why do you keep calling me that?"

"… are you sure you're not Jack Frost? Spirit of Winter, and all that?" Karin prompts, furrowing her chin into her scarf in order to repress a shiver. She kicks snow absent-mindedly. "You sure you're not suffering from amnesia?"

"_No."_

Well that's definitely hit a nerve.

"Then what are you?" Karin huffs, glancing at him with flushed cheeks. "You're not a ghost, not a _shinigami_, not even a Hollow, so… what? I don't get it."

Not-Jack-Frost splutters, cheeks redder than before, and steam flourishes in the air in a tangle of incomprehensible breathy sounds. Is he hyperventilating?

"_How do you know about those?"_

"I know many things." Karin says, smug. She's enjoying what little leverage she has against him. If he can be as mysterious as he likes, then so can she. "But I don't know anything about you."

_Smooth_, she thinks to herself, pleased with how the situation is being handled, she sounded cool.

He twitches, refusing to say anything.

Karin waits.

"I'm a _shinigami_."

"You don't look like one." Karin frowns, studying him now that she has the chance, and glances at his clothes. "No one else wore… that."

"Different uniform. I'm a Captain."

"No way." Karin grins, unable to repress a bubble of laughter. "That's awesome. Do you have a name, Captain?"

"Hitsugaya Toushirou."

"Kurosaki Karin." She extends her gloved hand, and grudgingly, he takes it. He has a good handshake.

Before, that is, he lets go like he's been burnt by hot water and is about to dissolve into steam.

"Wait. _Kurosaki?"_

"… do you know Ichi-nii?" She blinks, her head tilting to the side, and surely she'd remember a face like _his_—and suddenly, the reason he seems so familiar makes _sense_. "Were you in our house?"

"We know each other." Captain Jack Frost says like he dearly wished that he didn't.

"So, what are you doing here? Checking up on him?"

It's good to know that they care. That _she_ cares.

"I want you to leave me alone." He grits through his teeth, annoyed.

"But we've only just started to get to know each other!" Karin teases him, laughing.

"And stop calling me Jack Frost!" He shouts, blustering.

"Alright, fine." She shrugs. She can live with that, now that she knows his real name and can tell Yuzu it was an honest mistake. He wasn't who she thought he was. "Not even on Christmas?"

"_Especially not on Christmas."_

"Captain Jack Frost has a _very_ nice ring to it." Karin sighs, smirking because the expression on his face has turned mutinous. "Don't you think?"

"_It's Captain Hitsugaya!"_

Hook, line, and sinker.

"Captain Hitsugaya on Christmas. Toushirou for every other day of the year. Yeah, that works." Karin nods, and grins brightly, cheeks hurting because she's smiling too much.

His response is a stony silence and a furious glare of doom.

"You tricked me."

"I did no such thing." Karin insists, no-nonsense. "How do you feel about hot chocolate? It's starting to get really cold, and I'd rather have this conversation indoors."

He stares at her, then shrugs. "It's alright. I don't like it too sweet."

"You're lucky I know a café that makes it extra dark. How does that sound?"

He sighs, then nods.

Karin grins.

Karin's pretty sure she's found her new best friend.

* * *

"So who's Jack Frost?" He asks her, once she hands him the extra dark hot chocolate.

"Spirit of Winter. I thought I mentioned that?" Karin states. He's… not very bright, is he? Even if he is a Captain.

"You did. But what does he have to do with me?" Then quickly he adds. "Why did you think I was him?"

"Oh. That's simple. You look like him." Digging out her phone, she shows him a picture of Jack Frost. "See?"

"I don't!" He looks outraged.

"… not even a little bit?" Karin leans forward. "It's not like I saw you up close until today."

His mouth parts and says nothing. It pains him—that much is visible, and he's twitching, closing his eyes until he concedes. "Fine."

"It was an honest mistake." Karin says, and changes app. "Now, I just need to take a photo with you, because I promised Yuzu, if that's okay."

There's a very prominent vein on his forehead.

"… who is Yuzu?" He's already regretting asking the question.

Karin's grin widens. "My sister."

"There's _three_ of you?" This time he doesn't even try to hide his despair.

It's cute.

"Yeah, but she's not so bad. I'll even bet you'll like her best." Who doesn't like Yuzu? "I won't introduce you right away, if you want." But then the thought occurs. "But don't mention mistletoe, okay?"

As much as Karin loves Yuzu, she knows how her sister's mind works.

Then again, he is a very _cute_ _shinigami._

And she wouldn't be averse to kissing him.

"Alright." Toushirou agrees, though he looks very sceptical. It only gets more pronounced as Karin lifts her phone in the air and takes a selfie, only to realize that he's barely visible. She'll have to get someone else to take it for them.

"Awesome! Now say cheese!"

He doesn't smile in any of her photos. But that only makes Karin grin even brighter.


End file.
